Grade-schoolers cast votes, learn citizenship

Voters will cast ballots today, but yesterday children had their chance. At Memorial Elementary School in Upton, students made their voices heard, and they were pretty nearly divided in their views. In the school’s mock presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney won by a single vote, 235-234, over President Barack Obama, offering students lessons not only on the process but also on the importance of voting.

Voters will cast ballots today, but yesterday children had their chance.

At Memorial Elementary School in Upton, students made their voices heard, and they were pretty nearly divided in their views. In the school’s mock presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney won by a single vote, 235-234, over President Barack Obama, offering students lessons not only on the process but also on the importance of voting.

School Librarian Karlyn Gale said the race was tied at the end of regular voting. Several students had been unable to cast ballots in the morning, and it was decided to give them a chance to vote. A last call for voting was issued. Five students came forward.

“This absolutely shows how much your vote counts,” Ms. Gale said. “I think this may reflect how close tomorrow (Election Day) is going to be.”

In Auburn, Fitchburg and Oxford, the votes were not as close. Students in all three communities overwhelmingly supported President Barack Obama for re-election.

In Auburn, at Bryn Mawr Elementary School, the president received 158 votes, Mr. Romney received 96 and Green Party candidate Jill Stein received one vote. In Fitchburg, at Crocker Elementary School, the winner also was the president, 372-104.

In Fitchburg, the students supported Democrat Elizabeth Warren over Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown for U.S. Senate, 251-197.

The Fitchburg mock election is run by teacher Deborah Jeffries. It is an annual tradition she started at the school 25 years ago in the hope of inspiring students to appreciate the kind of civic responsibility she learned as a child from her grandfather, the late Peter Levanti, a Democrat who served Fitchburg as mayor and state representative. She said she could not wait to register to vote when she turned 18.

Judging by the level of noise and the seriousness of the students running Mrs. Jeffries’s polling place, many of the Crocker students will find the same enthusiasm as their teacher.

Crocker students from 20 classes in kindergarten through Grade 4 filed through Mrs. Jeffries’ classroom during the day, casting ballots for president and U.S. Senate. The polling place was set up using real polling booths that had been found and purchased at a Building 19 store by former Principal Donald Cummings after they had been slightly damaged in Mississippi River flooding.

The polls were run in the same fashion as the city’s polls are run, although the students occasionally diverged from the routine. When one student failed to vote for a candidate for Senate, Kylie Campos handed him back his ballot.

“You didn’t vote for everyone,” she said.

The student went meekly back to the voting booth, but Mrs. Jeffries explained that when an adult voter hands in a ballot, it is not looked at, just put in the ballot box.

The polls also had visits by students wearing masks of Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and Michelle Obama. The students were told politicians are not allowed to solicit votes at the polls. They then stood outside and greeted voters.

The voting was a daylong effort by the school that also included the signing of a school constitution created by a constitutional convention made up of students from all four grades and kindergarten. They also heard from state Rep. Stephen DiNatale, D-Fitchburg, state Sen. Jennifer Flanagan, D-Leominster, City Councilor Rosemary Reynolds and Register of Deeds Kathleen Daigneault on the importance of voting and encouraging their parents to vote.

Some of the students already knew the importance.

“You need to elect a president and no president can be elected if you don’t vote,” said Ta-Tanisha Teague.

In Auburn, several Bryn Mawr second-graders shared their views, even though their ballots were cast on Friday using secret ballots in the privacy of a voting booth set up in the cafeteria for the occasion.

Isabella C. Doyle, 7, said she also supported the incumbent. “I thought it was kind of cool he was the first black president. He keeps people safe.”

Molly O’Shea, 7, supported Mr. Romney: “I believe he will lower taxes all over the states.”

School Principal Beth Chamberland said the mock election was an exciting learning experience for the children in kindergarten through Grade 2 who voted.

The students cast their ballots, then tallied the votes and created bar graphs of the results.

“This election is a wonderful learning opportunity. Once we get the national results, we will compare them to ours. All the students will gather to watch the inauguration, no matter who wins. This is a remarkable process. I hope participating in this election will encourage our children to grow up to become voters,” Ms. Chamberland said.

Susan F. Peltier, literacy teacher, organized the voting at the Clara Barton Elementary School in Oxford, where students in Grades 3 and 4 checked in, voted in a voting booth, checked out and put their ballots in a voting box.

“We did this four years ago at the Chaffee School, I think kids who have voted are more likely to vote when they turn 18. Our election sparked conversations with the kids, made them more global, better citizens,” she said.

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